1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a service station of an ink jet printer. More particularly, the present invention relates to a service station device of an ink jet printer by which a nozzle of the ink jet printer can be capped to be tightly closed and perfectly cleaned.
2. Description of the Related Art
A contemporary ink jet printer can include a carriage placed on a main frame and moved to the left or right by a belt, a head having a nozzle which sprays an ink in a specific form, which is loaded on the carriage and moved together with it. In addition, the ink jet printer can include a service station for cleaning and closing the nozzle in response to a cleaning signal in a predetermined cycle during its printing operation.
Such a service station can be constructed to be suited for the characteristics of each head of several kinds of ink jet printers. In the contemporary service station, the nozzle is moved toward a cap by the weight of the head and sealed by the cap. Thus, the nozzle is not necessarily closed perfectly. Furthermore, since the configuration of the service station is complicated, a lot of component parts and assembling steps are required, thereby increasing the production cost. Moreover, the conventional service station employs a separate motor for driving the cap to close and seal the nozzle. This also raises the price of the ink jet printer. A wiper which is provided in the service station to clean the nozzle surface is in poor contact with the nozzle, to thereby deteriorate its reliability. The wiper is moved up and down, not to right and left. This causes the traveling distance of the carriage during the cleaning and closing operations, so that a size of the service station should be enlarged. On the combating of this and related problems in capping the nozzle, an example of the contemporary practice, Osbourne (U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,270, Ink-Jet Printhead Cap Having Suspended Lip, Sep. 5, 1995) discusses a cap having a sealing lip. This extends peripherally around the expanse of the cap. Saito et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,230, Capping Means And Ink Jet Recording Apparatus Using The Same, Nov. 28, 1995) discusses a capping device having a pushing member provided on the capping member at an inner side thereof for pushing with pressure against the discharge port of the ink jet recording head. Nystrom et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,463, Integral Seal For Ink Jet Printheads, Jun. 25, 1996) discusses an integral seal for priming or maintaining the nozzles or orifices of an ink jet printhead in an inkjet printer. Kuelzer et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,426,456, Suction And Covering Device For Suctioning Ink From Ink Print Heads Of An Ink Jet Print Unit And For Sealing The Ink Jet Print Heads, Jun. 20, 1995) discusses a suction and covering device with rubber insert caps, each cap being associated with a duct for pressure compensation. English (U.S. Pat. No. 5,216,449, Bounded Capillary Vent System For Ink-Jet Printers, Jun. 1, 1993) discusses a capillary vent system for ink-jet printers having an ethylene propylene diene monomer element. From my study of the contemporary practice and art, I find that there is a need for an effective service station of an ink jet printer by which the nozzle can be elastically capped to be tightly closed and perfectly cleaned.